FIH okays 8-year plan for global hockey’s activities

ISLAMABAD: The International Hockey Federation (FIH), which approved global hockey activities for the next eight years during its Executive Board (EB) meeting late Thursday, has also given a go-ahead to organise the Junior Asia Cup in July and Junior World Cup in December this year.

India has already secured the hosting rights of the Junior World Cup. Women Junior World Cup will also be held in December this year.

Men’s Asia Cup is scheduled for May 2022 while the window of November-December 2022 has been set to host the FIH Nations Cup. Men’s World Cup will be staged in January 2023 while the Continental Championship window has been set for August 2023.

The EB has also finalised the dates for first four years (2021-24) while the next cycle (2025-28) is currently in draft and will be confirmed on an annual basis, at least 4 years in advance to assist all involved in global hockey to plan their activities.

The EB also confirmed the matches schedule for the next FIH Pro League season (2021-2022). From there on, the matches will be played between October and June of the following year, within specific windows as detailed in the above-mentioned global hockey calendar.

Furthermore, the EB said that the FIH will organise its first-ever senior World Hockey5s event on September 11-12, 2021 in Switzerland. In 2019, to further boost the development of hockey globally through Hockey5s, the EB had decided to create an FIH Hockey5s World Cup — with the inaugural edition planned in 2023 — and, in the near future, a Hockey5s World Tour, which will consist of events similar to that in Lausanne. More information about this event will be communicated shortly.

To shape the future sustainability strategy of hockey around the world, the FIH has decided to create a Sustainability Task Force which will be responsible for setting key performance indicators and measuring performance, including publishing a biennial sustainability report to be presented to the FIH Congress as well as to the wider sporting community. It will include representatives from the national associations, athletes, officials, event organizers and suppliers as well as external experts.